The UG Depends On You
by Rixkalen
Summary: *SPOILERS* The UG is vanishing. Joshua's no longer the only person who can see things from the UG even though he's alive. A whole new puzzle with tons of twists. What's the Composer gonna do this time? 2 Years Post-Game JoshuaxOC
1. Prologue

I finally decided to get unlazy and upload another story I prolly won't finish until five years from now... Hopefully, it'll be sooner. Just so you know, if you haven't beaten The World Ends With You, then there are going to be spoilers here that I'm warning you about. Don't flame me about spoilers please.

Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You. Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Jupiter. Trust me, if I owned it, Joshua would've been the main character. No joke.

* * *

Blaring music. Passing bystanders. That's all she knew. Never heard. Never acknowledged. Just a passerby. A passerby that observed—viewed

things from the third perspective. That's the way she lived. Just another person on the face of the planet that walked through the crowded

streets of Shibuya, Japan. Her music played for the world to hear, not like anyone would listen to either it or her. That's what was to be

expected… from her point of view, that is.

Wearing cargo pants heavily adorned with chains of all sizes and lengths day in and day out, how could one not expect the worst from such a

dark-clad kid? She shook her head, throwing her black hair side to side. She was misunderstood. Sixteen-year-old Rena, better known as Ren,

had been stereotyped; she was used to it. Drums and electric guitars blasted from her headphones at a volume where most would go deaf if they

weren't already. To her, though, everyone was deaf. Shibuya was deaf. Her world of sounds meant nothing to others. She liked it like that. She would stay in her world; everyone else would stay in Shibuya.

* * *

Hope you liked it. These updates will be fairly frequent since I'm in a The World Ends With You kinda mood. Review if you like please~ Thank you~


	2. Day 1

I haven't played The World ends With You for a little bit so I'm a tad rusty on personality. I'm working on it. Enjoy this chapter~

Disclaimer: See Prologue 'cause I'm too lazy to type it up again. Oh, but I do own Rena and the plot~

* * *

People surrounded her everywhere she looked. Of course, she was in the center of Shibuya. Ren stopped abruptly as a vague wolf-like figure stared her down from the center of the street. It wasn't like a defined outline of the creature; rather, it was more like she was looking at it through a frosted window. Its shape was fuzzy, like it didn't quite exist in the world. Cars phased right through it, and she seemed to be the only one who noticed it. For a moment, she thought that perhaps the lack of reality was playing tricks on her. Perhaps her world of music was colliding with Shibuya and only she knew.

_How peculiar… _she thought, taking a step towards the strange being. She felt entranced by the lone figure. An invisible force compelled her to take another step towards it; she did. Step by step, she soon found herself standing on the edge of the road, her heels inches away from the sidewalk. Cars raced in front of her, the after winds blowing her hair to the side. To her, however, only the creature existed. It was just her and it. Shibuya had long melted away in her mind. Ren lifted a foot to take one final step towards the living mystery. A sudden shift in music ripped her back into reality. Her eyes suddenly narrowed as her gut instinct told her to turn back and run as far away from the thing as possible. She followed it. Her foot rested on the ground for only a millisecond after she had placed it before she had pivoted, turned tail, and ran. She forced her way through the large crowd, not bothering with apologies that would be forgotten by the next hour.

"Watch where you're going!"

"What's with the rush?"

"Kids are so impatient these days!" various insults were spat at her; she ignored them. Her headphones had fallen off her head and bounced around her next as she sprinted down the sidewalk, her tennis shoes slapping against the ground. Ren glanced back to see if the wolf was following her, but she couldn't see anything more than a bunch of angry people. She suddenly rammed into someone full force, sending both of them reeling towards the ground. She instinctively held her arms protectively over her head to avoid it being hurt. She winced as she felt her arm scrape the ground. Ren rolled onto her side, mentally checking each limb for pain. Nothing too bad, she assumed.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, glancing back at the person she had bowled over. She didn't have a chance to clearly see who she had run over for her eyes had shifted to the charging wolf before anything else. She scrambled to her feet and continued running. "Sorry!" she called back again. Ren was panting heavily way before the crowd finally thinned out. It had taken her a little over seven minutes to move from a populated area to a next to deserted area of Shibuya. Ren turned down an alleyway and raced up stairs, two at a time. Sure, the place lead to a dead end, but it was a large dead end which would give her time to see what exactly she was against. Before her mind had registered what had happened, she tasted blood. One of her many chains had snagged on a bent pipe, effectively stopping her dead in her tracks. She attempted to pull her leg free but failed horribly. With wide amber eyes, she saw the wolf slowly advancing on her, its outline more defined than before. Her adrenaline was pumping. It had been a long time since she had been this afraid. She sat up and scooted to the side so that the fence served as a temporary shield. Ren's breathing was uneven. She yanked fruitlessly at the entangled chains.

"Duck!" Usually, Ren didn't follow instructions, however, this wasn't exactly a normal circumstance. Leaving her mass of knotted chains forgotten, she threw herself against the cold asphalt. A large cement block flew over her head, sending the wolf barreling past her. Ren looked back to see a boy with silver hair sprinting towards her, an orange cell phone in hand.

"What in the world was that?!" Ren yelled incredulously. The boy in question didn't look like someone who could pick up a cement block. Even if he could, pick it up, she doubted that he would be able to throw something that heavy that far.

"Don't move," he commanded, lifting his cell.

"No pictures," she growled, beginning to work on untangling her chains again.

"I can help you easily," he pressured, sounding very indifferent.

"Taking a picture of me is not going to help me," she retorted, pulling at any chain she could get a solid grasp on.

_Note to self: take chains off pants. _She mentally smacked herself.

"Let me handle it or you're going to lose more than just one of your chains," he pressed a combination of numbers, each movement exaggerated by a flick of his wrist.

"The heck are yo-" she cut her sentence short when a second cement block materialized above the mass of chains. Ren pulled her leg back towards her body as close as the knotted metal would allow her. It fell, shattering the restraints somehow. She crab-walked backwards away from the mysterious boy as quickly as she could. "What the hell was that?!" she screeched, taking deep gulps of air.

"You saw the wolf, didn't you?" he suddenly asked.

"Don't chance the subject. You didn't answer my question!" she huffed, using anger to mask her fear.

"You didn't answer mine," he replied calmly. He was right.

"Fine. I saw it, big whoop," she shook her head like it was no big deal. He appeared to think for a moment, closing his violet colored eyes. "It's nothing worth pondering," she added, standing up straight and brushing off pieces of gravel from her pants. He reached for something in his pocket. "It's your turn to answer me. What the heck was with that cement block?" she queried, replaying the phenomenal scene in her head. Something small was tossed at her. Ren juggled it momentarily before getting a good grip on it. A pin. "What's this?" she stared incredulously at the odd boy. First he was making cement blocks appear and then he was suddenly giving her a pin. And Shibuya thought she was weird.

"I'm going to help you, c'mon," he grabbed her wrist lightly before walking casually towards where the wolf had been sent reeling.

"Hold on, what?!" she ripped her arm away from his light hold, clutching the pin tightly in her hand.

"We're going to fight," he answered nonchalantly.

"Fight? A wolf?! You're insane. I don't care what kind of trick you pulled off back there, I'm not going head to head against a wolf. There's just no way," she shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm helping you; you should be thankful," the strange boy continued forward, holding up his phone like a possible weapon.

"Right," she replied sarcastically before turning around to head back to the center of Shibuya. She smacked right into an invisible wall that had suddenly appeared. "What the-" she placed her hand against the force field, causing it to pulsate from where her hand touched it. "What's this?" she turned back around to face the boy. He stood behind her smirking slightly.

"Smile," his phone flashed, forcing her to cover her eyes. She looked back up to find that her surroundings had warped. Numbers flashed all around her, reminding her of what the inner workings of a computer looked like on the screen. She pivoted trying to see anything other than black and green. No dice.

"Hello?" she asked, scanning the area for the boy who had randomly vanished. She stared open-mouthed at the wolf that had completely materialized. It was crouched low into an offensive stance. Its fur was an odd greenish-blue color. Its tail was like nothing she had ever seen before, sporting a dark green tip that slowly transitioned into neon green and eventually yellow. Ren swallowed hard. She took a step backwards, feeling her back press up against a barrier. She chanced a second to see if she still had that pin the boy had given her. It had a flame drawn on it.

_There's gotta be some reason why he gave it to be before he said we were going to fight… or… I was going to fight. Whatever, there's gotta be some use to this… right? _With renewed determination Ren smirked at the wolf before holding the pin tightly. _I've got it! _Ren brought her arm behind her head and with all the strength she could muster… she threw it. The small piece of plastic on metal bounced harmlessly about two feet away from the wolf. Both living creatures stared at it with bated breath. Time seemed to stand still. The wolf lunged.

Realizing that throwing the pin wouldn't do a thing, she jumped to her left, barely avoiding the wolf's razor sharp claws. "Okay, yeah, new plan," she panted, ducking down as the wolf jumped over her, its claws grazing the back of her jacket. Keeping an eye on her opponent, she carefully made her way back to the pin and grabbed it once she had an open chance. Ren held the pin up towards the wolf as if daring it to attack again. _Maybe this creates some kind of wall of fire or something? _It leapt at her again and she was forced to dodge again.

"Agh…" she murmured, glancing at a gash the wolf had managed to create. "This pin is doing nothing," she growled.

_But I feel like I have to keep it… it'll fall out of my pocket it I put it there… _So, to solve her problem, she quickly clipped it to her sleeve in an attempt to free up both of her hands.

"Okay, another new plan," she huffed, wishing this wolf would just leave her alone. She focused on its location, making sure to simply outlast it. It jumped again and Ren calculated where it would land as best as she could. _There! _She stared at the spot where it landed. Fire suddenly erupted from the point she had gazed at. Her eyes widened as the flam extinguished. The wolf, though obviously wounded, didn't look like a normal wolf would've looked like if it had been burned. Its fur was still completely intact. It jumped at her once more. Ren threw her arms up in front of her face. When there was no impact, she chanced looking back up. The wolf was gone. The swirling numbers that had created a barrier around her had vanished.

She was back in Shibuya. In front of her, on the ground, was a second pin. She bent down and picked it up. The pin was completely red with writing in the center.

"You suck at fighting," a voice taunted.

"Well excuse me for not knowing what the hell I was supposed to do!" she yelled, turning around to face the strange boy. "Just who are you?!" she huffed, completely annoyed with the arrogant male.

"Yoshiya Kiryu, but my parents just call me Joshua," he shrugged.

"Joshua," she repeated. "What the hell was that thing?"

"It's rude to ask someone else's name and not give your own," Joshua stated.

"I'm Rena, but I go by Ren, now tell me what was that thing I just fought?"

"I see you finally learned how to use the pin," he observed, pointing out the pin she had clipped to her sweatshirt sleeve.

"You're not answering my question again," she glared at him. This time, he hadn't asked any question so he couldn't retort with 'you haven't answered mine' again.

"If you wanna learn, you'll have to let me help you," he smirked lightly.

"That doesn't even make any sense," she responded.

"You want to know more, don't you?"

"Not really. I just wanna go back to my life," with that, Rena began to exit the scene.

"It's too late for that,"

"What do you mean?"

"Follow me, and I'll tell you," Ren took the bait.

"Fine,"

* * *

I prolly messed up on Joshua's attitude a bit, but I tried as best as I could. I'ma gonna work on it a ton more. Have any suggestions? I'd love to hear 'em!


	3. Day 2

Okay, so several things aren't explained in this chapter. Don't worry. I promise you by the end of the next chapter, most of those loose ends will be tied up. Oh, also, I had a ton of help from my friend Heather with coming up with ideas for these next few chapters. Just a reminder here for those who are confused. Rena and Ren are the same person. She's just better known as Ren.

**_Rena = Ren_**

**_Ren = Rena_**

Disclaimer: Look back at the prologue. Also, the other characters that are mentioned/show up in this chapter don't belong to me either. I wish. Rena and the plot DO belong to me. Don't steal 'em please.

* * *

"That creepy wolf thing was called a noise?" Ren sat rigidly on a bench near the Statue of Hachiko.

"Indeed," Joshua replied, leaning back rather casually on his half of the bench.

"Well what about the pin? Explain the fire that randomly appeared and why it didn't seem to physically affect that noise!" Ren was pissed off at this boy. For the past hour or so, she had gotten very few answers to her numerous questions.

"You can't put two and two together on your own?"

"Shut up! Just tell me about the stupid pin, would you?"

"You'll learn," Joshua sat up and turned to face her. "For the time being, if you don't want to be attacked by a rogue noise, make a pact with me," he held out his hand to the sitting girl.

"I don't care how stupid I may be about this subject, but I don't think that shaking your hand is going to change whether those noise things will attack me," she crossed her arms defiantly, a scowl on her face that was directed towards the silver-haired boy.

"You'd be quite surprised. Besides, you'll learn more this way," Ren stayed put. "I'll tell you about the pins," he bribed. Ren hesitantly reached out her hand but stopped short before voicing another question.

"How do I know you'll really tell me? Why would shaking your hand change whether or not you'll tell me?" she frowned, realizing a possible mistake she almost made.

"You've gotta trust your partner," he smiled ever so slightly. Ren stared.

_Partner? So now we're partners? When did we ever reach the friend stage?_

"Fine, but if you go back on your word, I swear I'll knock the living daylights outta you," Ren threatened. Joshua chuckled to himself, eyes closing in the process.

"You have fun with that," Ren placed her hand in his. Immediately, time seemed to freeze around them. The many people that were walking past them had all abruptly stopped in place. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Joshua looked calm as ever. Her amber gaze met with his violet one and unusual warmth that was foreign to her seemed to radiate from him. A dark blue aura surrounded her while a golden one blanketed him. The two auras mixed where their hands met, turning both spiritual cloaks a deep emerald color.

As soon as the whole experience began, it ended. Ren settled back into reality rather quickly and smacked Joshua's hand away. The ebony haired girl suddenly winced as a burning sensation erupted from her hand. She looked at it to see the most unusual sight she had ever seen… with the wolf noise as an exception. Black numbers with a red outline looked to be burned into her hand. It was counting down.

_Nine days and seven hours… what's this?_

Rena, not being one who keeps things to herself, voiced, yet another, question.

"What the hell is this?" she growled, showing her hand to her partner. The boy she was talking to ignored her. Instead, he seemed to be preoccupied with something on the ground—something that shone in the light. Joshua bent down and grabbed it before examining it closely. It was completely clear, like it was an empty pin. Suddenly interested in the new pin, Ren temporarily forgot about the time and went back to her questioning. "Okay, I don't know what the hell that was, but I'm assuming I made a pact with you? Nonetheless, fess up, pretty boy. What's with these pins?" Ren held up her arm and pointed to the two buttons she had pinned to her sweatshirt sleeve. Joshua didn't reply. Instead, he tossed her the third pin to add to her collection. "This isn't an answ-" she cut her sentence short as her phone beeped at her. She pulled it out of one of her many pockets and checked it. A new text message. The sender and call back areas were blank. "What's this?" she asked no one in particular. Glancing up at Joshua, who looked bored as ever, she opened the text. A picture of the pin with a flame on it showed up. "Explain this," she commanded, showing the screen of her phone to Joshua.

"It's the answer to your questions about the pins," he explained, typing in a number combination on his phone then lifting it to his ear.

"But how is this-"

"It's rude to talk to people when they're on the phone," he scolded before beginning to talk to whoever he had called. Ren blew her bangs out of her face before looking at her phone

**Pyrokinesis**

**Boot: 5s**

**Reboot: 30s**

**Focus on a location to summon flames**

_This doesn't make sense… boot and rebot? And what's with this whole focusing thing to make fire appear? Unless… _Ren replayed the fight with the wolf. She had been focusing on the wolf's location the entire time and no fire had appeared. _Until I had clipped it to my sleeve! _The thought his her like a ton of bricks, sending her face-first onto the ground. People stared at her, but she was too proud of herself, to have figured something out on her own, to care.

"But how can something like this seriously exist?" she sat up and looked at the pin on her sleeve. "It looks just like a normal pin," Ren scanned her phone again and read up on the second one.

"C'mon, Ren, let's go," Joshua shut his phone before shoving it into his pocket.

"Where are we going?" Ren inquired, looking up from her own phone's screen.

"The 104 Building. We're meeting up with an old friend of mine,"

"Who's that?"

"You'll see," with that, Joshua began walking off.

"Hey, wait up!" she called out, jumping to her feet and brushing off gravel from her pants. After putting her phone in one of her pockets, she chased after him.

_It's definitely easier to run since I took off all those chains…_

**********

"How much longer to we have to wait?" Rena paced impatiently as Joshua leaned against the wall of the building.

"He'll be here any minute," he replied, casually holding up his phone. "Hey Ren," he began, drawing her attention. "Smile," he said before snapping a picture of her.

"What the-" she hadn't expected to have a picture taken of her.

"Joshua!" a voice called out. Ren looked to her left to see a girl with black hair and glasses running up to the boy she had called out to. A second boy came into view as he jogged to catch up to the loud girl.

_His hair… is orange… like fluorescent orange… _Rena thought to herself, wondering if the boy's hair was naturally neon orange or if he dyed it. Ren's gaze shifted back to Joshua to ask who these people were but instead saw the other girl hugging him. Ren glared.

"IT's been so long since we've seen you! You haven't aged at all!" she exclaimed. Speaking of ages, it wasn't until then that Rena realized that these two people had to be at least one or two years older than Joshua himself. Rena waited patiently for the girl to let go of Joshua. No dice. She cleared her throat rather loudly. All three teens looked at her, just as she had hoped.

"Who're you?" the orange haired boy inquired, walking up to her. She looked up at him, seeing as he dwarfed her by about seven inches.

"I'm Rena," she replied, trying to make herself appear to be as tough as possible. Her amber gaze locked with his azure one before Rena suddenly winced in pain. She fell to her knees, cradling her head in her hands.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he bent down next to her, concern laced in and out through his voice. Rena didn't reply. She couldn't reply. It felt like her head had been split open and something was probing at her mind.

**She was back at the CAT mural. The first thing she noticed was Joshua with a gun in his hand. Ren's gaze ran down the barrel of the gun to see him pointing it at a familiar orange-haired boy.**

"**No!" she tried to call out, but her voice failed her. Joshua fired. The next thing Ren knew, the orange-haired boy was lying dead on the ground.**

"You… died…" she murmured, lifting her head a bit.

"Huh?"

"You died," she repeated, meeting his blue gaze.

"Uh… I guess you could say that…" he scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"Joshua shot you in front of the CAT Mural! I saw!" Ren exclaimed, standing up and pointing an accusing finger at the culprit.

"I did?" Joshua inquired, tilting his head to the side.

"That happened two years ago. Don't tell me your memory is that bad, Joshua," the orange haired boy replied. People had stopped to listen in on their conversation. The girl shooed them away.

"My memory is fine. I remember partnering up with you in the UG, but I don't recall ever shooting you," Joshua continued, crossing his arms and staring at the ground in thought.

"Hey, I suggest we talk this over somewhere different. We're getting strange glances," the girl suggested. Everyone agreed.

**********

"Why does this not surprise me that Neku chose Mr. H's café?" the girl giggled lightly before lifting a cup to her lips. The orange haired boy, now known as Neku, simply shrugged. Rena sat like a stone statue in her chair. She wasn't used to being among a group of friends. It wasn't that fact that she was the outsider of the group, oh no, she was used to that. It was the fact that she was in the group to begin with.

"I'm sorry, I don't know you're name," the girl leaned on the table, seeing as she was sitting across from the girl she was talking to.

"I'm Rena," she replied, practically jumping out of her chair when the door opened, causing a small bell above the door to ring. The girl laughed again.

"It's just a bell, don't worry. I'm Shiki," she introduced, holding out her hand.

"This isn't going to make some kind of pact again… is it?" Rena looked at Shiki's offered hand warily, not wanting to make a pact with a girl who seemed to be affectionate with Joshua.

_What the heck was that thought? I don't wanna make a pact with her just because she hugged Joshua? What? _Rena was confused at her own thought. Shiki laughed again, a grin spreading across her face.

"No, silly. We're not in the UG. This isn't going to forge a pact," Ren nodded before shaking her new friend's hand lightly.

"Hey, listen," Neku drew the others' attention. "I got a strange message from someone," he said, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"What's that gotta do with anything?" Rena asked rather rudely. Why bring up something about a strange message at this point in time? Joshua's friends didn't make sense. "It has to do with the UG," his voice was serious. Judging by Joshua's and Shiki's facial expressions, Rena assumed it was something of real importance.

"It's Joshua's chance to get back to the UG and reclaim it,"

* * *

It took me a bit to decide whether I wanted the other original characters to make an appearace. In the end, my friend Heather and I decided that doing that would help the storyline move along just fine and explain some things as well, seeing as Joshua isn't one for explaining. For those of you who I know are going to ask about things, I'm going to give you a check list of questions I'll answer by the end of the next chapter.

**What's really happening to the UG  
Who or what's behind it all (Or at least is part of the plan)  
Who the strange message is from  
Why noises are appearing in the RG**

Okay, so there's not much of a checklist here. If you'd like, I can start adding questions that will be answered in the next chapter. Or, if not, I won't. I'm with whatever, really. Hope uou enjoyed this chapter~ I'll update ASAP!


	4. Day 3

**es! I am back with another chapter! I have no excuse for being late except that I've been lazy and playing tennis. So yeah... Enjoy this chapter! I tried to make it somewhat long.**

**Disclaimer: Chek the prologue. Rena and the plot are both Mine! Don't steal! It's bad!**

* * *

"Why do we have to run?!" Rena yelled, panting heavily as she failed to keep up with the group. Being the youngest in the group had its pros and cons. One of the cons was the fact that she had the shortest pair of legs and the least amount of stamina—a combination that didn't fair when trying to keep up with people that were older. "What's with the rush?" she slowed down to a walk, deciding that if she was important enough to be dragged along, then perhaps that invisible bond that pulled her along with them would hold them back too. Or maybe not. "Wait up!" she yelled. Neku turned around and slowed to a stop.

"Something wrong?"

"Uhm, no, I just happen to be tired out to death and I feel like I might keel over any second, but otherwise, I'm just fine," Rena replied, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"What? You want Josshy to piggyback you the rest of the way?" Shiki joked, grinning.

_If you weren't joking, I think I would've taken you up on that offer… _Rena thought. A smirk played upon her lips at the thought of Joshua carrying someone on his back. L_ooks like his back can barely support him let alone carry someone else around._

"C'mon, we don't have too much farther to go," Neku encouraged, holding out his hand to her.

"We're only at Cadoi City. We've still got five streets to cover. That's like forever away," she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well we'll meet you at Pork City. Don't fall too far behind," Joshua shrugged before sprinting off.

"Hey! Hold on! Joshua!!!" Rena raced after him, suddenly rearing with energy.

"Okay then… I guess we know how to get her to run," Shiki smiled, looking up at Neku.

"Yeah, I suppose," a slight smile graced his facial features. "We shouldn't fall too far behind," Neku warned before following after the other two.

"Right," Shiki nodded, sprinting alongside him.

**********

"Can we please walk now? There are only two more streets and if we have to fight when we get there, you're on your own, Joshua," Rena threatened, practically collapsing on a bench near the 104 Building.

"I never thought you to be the athletic one," Neku sighed, resting on the bench as well.

"I suppose we can walk," Joshua caved and Rena mentally partied. At least she wouldn't have to run anymore.

_Why does this UG mean so much to him?_

"Neku, I know I haven't known Joshua for very long, but he seems to really care about this UG you guys talk about. Why is it so special?" Rena wondered, catching up to the neon-headed boy.

"He's the composer of it," Neku replied simply.

"Composer?"

"It's hard to explain right now. After we see what's at Pork City, I'll ask Shiki to explain it to you, or if you're lucky, Joshua will speak up. I highly doubt the latter of the two choices though,"

"Oh… Why doesn't Joshua ever explain anything in full?"

"I dunno, he was like that when we were partnered up in the UG," Neku shrugged.

"UG… hmm… Does it have anything to being dead? Is the UG like the afterlife or something?"

"You could say. C'mon, we're falling behind," Neku motioned to Joshua and Shiki who were several paces ahead of them.

"Okay," Rena jogged alongside her new companion to catch up.

"Oh!" Neku drew her attention once more.

"What now?" she stopped abruptly and faced Neku.

"Joshua asked me to give you these," he held out a handful of pins.

"Whoa!" she looked at each one individually before clipping them onto her sweatshirt sleeve. There were nine of them. "Hey, what's this one do?" she held up a black pin with a white skull on it.

"You don't use that one to fight. You can use it to scan for noises,"

"So how do I use it?" Rena flipped it much like a coin before catching it. Instantly, an emerald green strand appeared, starting from her right hand. She followed it with her eyes and found that it lead to Joshua's right hand.

_Is that a sign of our pact?_

**********

"So what's so important at Pork City that we needed to kill Joshua's partner?" Shiki wondered aloud. Said partner was sitting on a rather large heap of trash that she never had noticed before.

"Gee, this is a familiar sight," Neku observed, frowning slightly.

"What is?" Rena looked up at him. She didn't like not knowing things.

"Grim Heaper's back, Joshua," Neku sighed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts.

"So I noticed," Joshua fished through his pocket for his signature item—his phone.

"You zeroes are so zetta slow," a voice taunted. Everyone looked to the top of a particularly large heap of trash.

"Hey, you're that strange math reaper Neku told me about!" Shiki pointed an accusing finger at said reaper.

"Well someone's out of their vector. I've subtracted my reaper status,"

"What's with the annoying math terms?" Rena tilted her head to the side slightly in confusion.

"Get to the point of why you wanted us here. It's obvious you're the one who sent the message," Neku held up his phone, checking it once more. Rena noticed Shiki glancing over his shoulder despite her lack of height.

"Hold on, skipping the work and writing the answer is called cheating,"

"Would you just explain and skip the math stuff?" Rena huffed. "I hate that subject…" she murmured.

"Final answer is, I'm greater than that zero there," Sho pointed towards Rena's partner. Rena looked between the two boys.

"No, I think Joshua looks smarter," she observed.

"Not with this divided from him," the strange math person held up a single white feather. Joshua didn't move. "I'll let you add it to your inventory if you meet my demand," he taunted.

"And what's that?"Rena stood up, suddenly interested. Joshua kept his eyes locked on the white feather.

"Prepare to be iterated!" with that, Sho dramatically threw out his free hand. A large group of black hedgehog looking noises materialized in a wave of static.

"Those things… are huge," Rena gasped, backing up as best as she could. Her back pressed up against an invisible wall. "What the-?"

"It's a barrier. They always appear when you get into a fight," Joshua warned before her world shifted to numbers.

"I thought I made it clear that I hate math…" Rena pursed her lips together, glancing at the pins on her sleeves. As if Rena had an alter ego specially designed for fighting, her entire personality shifted. She eyed the three corehogs carefully. Their bodies were covered by a thick black coat of fur. Ren narrowed her gaze before she pulled out her iPod from her pocket. She tapped one of her pins on her sleeves then touched her music player. A thread of yellow light stretched from the pin to her music device, looking much like a cord. Without missing a beat, she turned the music up full blast. The pin emitted sound waves, fueled by the electric guitars and drums of the hard metal song. The cord faded as the pin lost its energy.

Rena shoved her iPod back into her pocket for later use. Her eyes widened as one of the corehogs stabbed her. She cried out in pain as it pulled back its spikes. She glanced at where her wounds would've been. Instead, she was left with gaping holes in her limbs. She stared in disbelief as they filled back in without her doing anything. She felt something pierce her back before exploding. She

rolled to the side before jumping back to her feet, feeling the pain already begin to ebb away. Thinking on her toes, almost literally, Rena scanned her sleeves for the next pin to use. She threw out her hand, an icicle sprouting from a spot on the ground in front of her. Several more popped up, vanishing just as quickly as they appeared. Rena continued on, exhausting each of her pins until she was left with eight reloading pins. The corehogs took their chance and sent another wave of attacks at her. She ran along the perimeters of the battle field. Rena scanned her sleeves again, finding a single one ready to use. It was the one that used to be blank. Unsure of how to activate it, she tapped it, hoping for the best.

"I've got your back!" Joshua's voice suddenly called out. She looked around, expecting to see Joshua, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Watch your own first!" she replied, wondering if he could hear her. She was suddenly wrapped in a warm green aura. The Chaoti corehogs froze in place. She was lifted into the air slightly before beams of light rained down on her enemies. She watched in amazement as the attacks seemed to go on endlessly.

"Focus, it strengthens the attack," Joshua assured. Rena closed her eyes, slightly comforted by the thought of Joshua still being around. Her concentration was suddenly broken as she dropped back to the ground. Rena quickly put her guard back up, ready for another attack. It never came. The swirling numbers around her faded back into the walls of Pork City. She spotted Shiki then Neku and finally Joshua.

"You zetta sons of digits!" Sho growled.

"Give us what you said you would!" Rena retorted, taking a step forward with her fist raised.

"If you want the answer for yourself, you'll have to find it on your own," he smirked before vanishing.

"He expects us to go through all this junk?!" Neku scowled. "Stupid Grim Heaper," he grumbled.

"Maybe Joshua can single it out, seeing as it's special to him," Shiki offered.

"You make him seem like a dog," Rena huffed.

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" Shiki answered quickly, waving her hands in front of her in a frantic manner.

"He look, Grim Heaper made it easy on us," Neku pointed to the slowly disintegrating heaps of trash. After a few moments of watching, the only thing left was a white feather. Rena hurried over to it and snatched it off the ground, as if it too would disintegrate if left on the ground too long. She held it out for Joshua to take, a big grin on her face. Her smile suddenly dropped as a head ache plagued her. She fell to her knees, holding her head in both hands.

**She looked around. People were walking all around her. The Statue of Hachiko was still as prominent as ever. She looked down. She wasn't in her own body. In fact, she couldn't tell whose body she was in. The person walked toward the West Bus Terminal, and from there continued to the Underground Pass. Rena watched as they held out their hand. The person continued forward into a long dark tunnel. Everything went black around them.**

As soon as the headache came, it left. Though remnants of it still stuck around.

"Are you okay, Rena?" Shiki inquired, placing a hand on the younger girl's back.

"I'm good," she lied, standing up rather shakily. Joshua took the feather from her hand before beginning to walk back to Dogenzaka.

"C'mon. Let's go talk to Mr. H," he said. Rena nodded before attempting to follow him. However, after perhaps four or five steps, Rena felt her eyes close and her body falling forward. Her mind went blank.

* * *

**Yay! This chapter is done~ Well, now we know that Sho Minamimoto will be in this story, and he's a baddie. *gasp* But we all love Sho Minamimoto. I really hope I kept him in character.**

**Up next:**

**What's up with the Underground Pass?  
Why does Rena have these weird headaches?  
What'll happen if they run out of time?**

**You'll find out soon.**


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